# Australian English **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 20, 2015, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-english/718128 "2015-04-20T16:58:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-english/718128/81 "2015-04-28T11:48:11Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > I’m saying it is not an interpretation that is inherent to that characteristic. The fact that rising inflection works for both interrogatories and declarations in Welsh English supports that it is not inherent. Gotcha. So we are talking about Australians, who (apart from one particular demographic) use a rising inflection to indicate a question, but according to you the fact that Australians who make statements using a rising inflection get perceived as sounding like they are asking a question isn’t because most Australians use a rising inflection to indicate they are asking a question. It’s because sexism and oldfartism. And because Welsh. Who neither the OP nor myself were talking about. Well, if that seems the most probable thing to you, whatever floats your boat, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Cara\_mel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/22d042/32.png) [@Cara\_mel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cara_mel)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-english/718128/82 "2015-04-28T11:49:02Z")
oops, try this one Prue and Trude ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-english/718128/83 "2015-04-28T12:16:50Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > but according to you the fact that Australians who make statements using a rising inflection get perceived as sounding like they are asking a question isn’t because most Australians use a rising inflection to indicate they are asking a question. You’re missing the next link. Just because I think you are talking in a way that reminds me of the way people ask questions (when I know very well you aren’t asking a question) doesn’t require me to think that you sound uncertain or lack confidence. That’s an extra step of interpretation that requires another leap, one influenced by social prejudices. Do you think that the young Australians who are using uptalk with each other in their own social group are perceiving each other as weak and lacking confidence? After all, they are also familiar with the use of rising time with interrogatories. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-english/718128/84 "2015-04-28T14:07:42Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Do you think that the young Australians who are using uptalk with each other in their own social group are perceiving each other as weak and lacking confidence? After all, they are also familiar with the use of rising time with interrogatories. It’s a valid question, but yes. Young Australian women present to each other as weak and lacking in confidence. It’s a deliberate and important part of the social interaction. I guess it’s more of an Australian thing than an American thing. Going to the other exterme, the whole American self-confidence thing can be very jarring to Australian ears, and in a social context would be distinctly alien. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-english/718128/85 "2015-04-28T18:44:16Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > Maybe. But it was still jarring to my North American ears. > > In North America, we use “washroom” or “restroom” to refer to the acts of human defecation. We never ask if one needs to urinate or defecate; but we know where one does such things. Still, we’re squeamish about naming the porcelain object into which we deposit our defecation. It is easier for us if we simply refer to the room where we might do such things as a “washroom” or a “restroom.” > > Thus, “toilet,” tossed around casually, as in my Aussie relative asking her son, about age three, and quite openly, “Do you need to use the toilet?” was\* to me\* somewhat similar to “hey, my three-year-old son, would you like to star in child porn?” That’s how unusual, awkward, and jarring the word was to my North American ears. > > Yes, I know what a toilet is. I have a couple in my house. But guests ask to use the washroom, or the restroom. Of course, I allow them. I know what they are going to use the room for. We just don’t say such. I have never used “washroom” and have never heard a friend or relative use the word A toilet is a receptacle. The room it’s in is a bathroom. A restroom is a public facility. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-english/718128/86 "2015-04-28T18:50:26Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > I have never used “washroom” and have never heard a friend or relative use the word It’s more a Canadian thing. The first time I traveled in the US as a kid I thought restrooms were places where tired drivers went to catch a nap. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2015, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-english/718128/87 "2015-04-29T00:57:23Z")
On the ‘uptalk’ thing … I’m willing to believe that there are things about the way young women speak that very clearly identify them as ‘young women ways of talking’. Not so much that it’s _specifically_ the high rising terminal though. Check out this pretty iconic movie from 1932 [On Our Selection](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1SjeWCuyDk). Mr Maloney for instance (2:40 to 3:00 or so) - upward inflection on nearly every sentence. He’s clearly meant to be Irish - this may give a clue about how the speech pattern spread in Australian society, the Irish were a pretty significant immigrant group. My country-bred father in law talks a bit like Mr Maloney actually, 'cept without the Irish accent. And then the two women talking from 4:00 onwards - high rising terminals all over the place (and you could say ‘well, see, it’s a young woman’ - but it’s a young woman _from the 1930’s_.) If anything, I think Australians go up less these days than in previous years, as we travel internationally more, and meet people who rather mock it. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2015, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-english/718128/88 "2015-04-30T00:29:09Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > You’re missing the next link. Just because I think you are talking in a way that reminds me of the way people ask questions (when I know very well you aren’t asking a question) doesn’t require me to think that you sound uncertain or lack confidence. That’s an extra step of interpretation that requires another leap, one influenced by social prejudices. > > Do you think that the young Australians who are using uptalk with each other in their own social group are perceiving each other as weak and lacking confidence? After all, they are also familiar with the use of rising time with interrogatories. No, he’s not. The leap is based entirely on the fact that it sounds like they are constantly questioning things. That makes you sound less confident. You’re the one bringing sexism into it. You’ve got the causation backwards. Women started using uptalk because it was less confident sounding, as being female and confident was considered rude. You still hear women talk about how not using uptalk [seems rude to them](http://www.livescience.com/41707-examples-of-valley-girl-uptalk-video.html) in certain situations. And even people who are [ubiquitous with uptalk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tj4EIGje4dA) still use downtalk. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2015, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-english/718128/89 "2015-05-02T14:00:42Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > No, he’s not. The leap is based entirely on the fact that it sounds like they are constantly questioning things. That makes you sound less confident. There is no natural law of language that states that using a tone that sounds like a question makes you sound less confident. That is a cultural judgment. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-english/718128.md?page=4)